Physically & Emotionally
by AllysonGems
Summary: Steven is hurting inside and out. If he doesn't get help soon he'll be gone forever. Time isn't his friend in this situation and it's running out.
1. Chapter 1

_**An: I know this chapter is on the shorter side, it's just to set the story line. Please leave your ideas in the review section.**_

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Steven and the Crystal Gems relationships were good. They were his friends and more so his family. They helped raise him along with his dad, Greg. His mother was gone because she gave up her physical form to have him. The Crystal Gems promised that they would protect Steven. That's exactly what they did.

Amethyst was like an older sister to him. They had one of the closest bonds. Amethyst always teased Steven like a little brother. They usually had a load of fun together. No matter if it was going to the Big Donut together, hanging out on the beach, play fighting, they always had a fun time. Steven looked up to Amethyst because she understood him more and they both were not like anybody else. Plus, she was also his first fusion with a gem.

Garnet was like a mother to him. She was like a mom to everyone. She was the new leader of the Crystal Gems since Rose died. Everyone respected her and looked up to her. Steven always thought she was the coolest gem out there. He also just adored Ruby and Sapphire and wanted Garnet to split up just to see them. Steven and Garnet were close. She always thought of Steven as his own human being and not Rose. She always gave Steven a chance and always protected him like she promised.

Pearl was like mother to him as well. She was over protective of him and helped him learn things. She and him were close as well but, there was always a something missing. Steven knew how Pearl loved Rose and how she blamed Greg and Steven a little for her absence. Sometimes Steven would question to himself if Pearl only love him because he had Rose's gem. Pearl was very close with Rose and Steven did take away her. He loves Pearl as a mom and looks up to her for strength. All of Roses problems aside she still meant a lot to him and he meant a lot to her.

Steven knew more than the Crystal Gems thought he knew. He over hears them sometimes at night when they think he is sleeping. He never told them about the nightmares he would get about Bismuth, Jasper, Eyeball, Rose, and every gem he had ever done wrong. It's not that he was afraid to tell them, he didn't want them to worry about him. Even though he had a very close relationship with all of them, it was just something he thought was better to keep to himself.

Sometimes Steven just felt so alone. There was no one like him. He had Connie and his Dad but they were humans. He is only half human. He remembered that day when he was in the van and Greg and Connie high fived and said "human beings". That's when it hit him, he wasn't a human. He was half-gem, half-human. He felt left out in their conversation. Sometimes he'd wish he was a full gem or full human and not in between.

Besides all his feelings he had a big problem. He had noticed there was a crack on the Rose Quartz gem. He must've got it from the last fight. He knew it was bad to keep this from them as well but he didn't want to worry them or them being disappointed in him for cracking his mothers gem. With the crack, there was a lot of pain. He had gotten use to some of the pain but, it got worse and worse as each day went on. The crack was cracked half way through his gem. It cracked a little more each day.

Everyday he would try to heal it himself but, his healing spit didn't work on him, only on others. It made sense but he didn't have a way to fix it. He knew about Rose's fountain because when Amethyst has had her gem cracked. He tried to warp to it but he could never find it. He always had a smile on his face even though he has been suffering for over a week.

Garnet never noticed anything strange. Steven looked like he normally did, with his happy smile that could light up the whole universe. Her future vision never even showed a sign of Steven hurt or lying. So, she went about her day like usual.

Amethyst never payed too much attention to his health or feelings. Yes, they had their moments together but it wasn't everyday when they shared feelings. Steven looked like himself so she never questioned anything. For all she knew he was a happy healthy kid.

Not even Pearl knew how much pain he was going through, physically and emotionally. Every day seemed normal. She would make him breakfast, clean up, refuse to watch "Crying Breakfast Friends", and play board games with him.

Steven deep down inside knew he had to tell them before he was almost cracked all the way through. He was thinking of a way to word it, who to tell. Was he going to tell Garnet, Amethyst, or Pearl? He didn't know. All he knew was time wasn't his friend in this situation and it was running out.

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 _ **Thanks for reading!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Note: I'm so sorry for being gone for so long. I plan for this week to write a chapter for every story I currently have going on starting with this one. Sorry if it isn't as good I'm trying to get the feel for writing again. Again I'm so sorry. Please leave reviews.**_

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"Steven?" Garnet looked at Steven who was staring out the window for the past few minuets. Steven didn't respond which made Garnet a little worried. She walked over to him and gently taped on his shoulder. "Steven. Are you okay?" Garnet said with a little worry in her tone.

"Garnet!" Steven yelled out not realizing she was talking to him. "Oh, sorry Garnet." Steven blushed getting embarrassed.

"Are you okay Steven? You have been staring out at the beach for almost 15 minuets." Garnet had a little frown.

"I'm okay Garnet, really." Steven gave a weak smile while holding onto his gem.

"Did you want to go swimming?" Garnet suggested seeing Steven was interested in the beach.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun!" Steven said forgetting about the giant crack in his gem. "Can we invite Lapis and Peridot?" Steven asked.

"I don't see why not." Garnet smiled and ruffled his thick curly hair. "I will go ask them if they want to join us, you go get ready and meet me out on the beach." Garnet warped away to the barn.

"Okay!" Steven smiled and made his way to the bathroom. That's when it hit him. His gem was going to be exposed. He started to panic thinking of ways to get out of swimming. He felt bad he was going to cancel on the Crystal Gems and Lapis, he couldn't do it. He was just going to have to keep his shirt on and make up an excuse that he didn't want to get sun burnt and hope for the best. He wasn't ready to tell them, not yet anyway.

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 _ **On the beach…**_

"Steven!" Peridot came running but soon tripped on her face on the sand. "Ow." Peridot groaned.

"Peridot! Are you okay? Steven came rushing over.

"I'm fine Steven. I didn't feel a thing!" Peridot got up and blushed.

"What did you have in mind for today?" Lapis cut into their conversation.

"Oh just swimming and hanging out." Steven smiled and hugged Lapis.

"Steven, do you got your swimming trunks on?" Garnet asked walking towards him.

"Yes I do," Steven pointed and smiled. "Are Pearl and Amethyst coming?" Steven asked.

"They said they were coming." Garnet smiled and noticed he did not take off his shirt. "Steven, your shirt." Garnet walked over to him.

"I-I thought I would…just keep it on. You know so I don't get…sun burnt." Steven shuddered.

"Steven? Are you alright?" Garnet got worried.

"I'm fine. Let's play in the water!" Steven ran to the ocean waving over Lapis and Peridot.

"Okay." Garnet smiled still not believing him fully. "Steven don't go too far out." Garnet ordered and went over to the ocean as well.

"I won't!" Steven laughed splashing water at Peridot.

"Hey!" Peridot yelled.

"Haha!Got you Peridot!" Steven laughed going under the water.

"You thought that was bad Peridot? Look behind you!" Steven still laughing pointing behind Peridot.

"Lapis!" Peridot screamed looking at the giant wave coming for her and Steven.

"What's happening here?" Amethyst jumped into the water looking at the giant wave heading towards them.

"Im getting out of here!" Peridot yelled trying to swim away.

"Steven be careful!" Pearl got worried.

"It's only a little wave!" Steven giggled.

"Here it comes!" Lapis shouted pushing the wave towards them.

Steven then got a very sharp pain in his body. He felt like he couldn't move. It was the worst time possible because the gems were around and there was a giant wave that was possibly going to drown him and crack his gem even more.

The wave suddenly hit all of them and pushed them back up onto the beach except Steven. Steven never managed to swim with the wave. Instead he went straight underwater knocked out from all the pain.

"See Peri, that wasn't so bad!" Amethyst hit Peridot on her back laughing.

"That was actually fun. Let's do it again!" Peridot blushed a little bit.

"Wait a minute." Garnet said adjusting her shades.

"What is Garnet?" Pearl said getting up.

"Steven got pushed underwater. Lapis can you bring him up!" Garnet shouted.

"Oh gosh." Lapis felt horrible.

Lapis made a water hand and felt for Steven in the water. She then brought him up and carefully set him down on the beach sand.

"MY BABY!" Pearl screamed listening for a heart beat.

"How did this happen?" Peridot questioned.

"He's going to be okay. He is just unconscious from being pushed under." Garnet adjusted her shades once more.

"Are you sure Garnet?" Pearl got up sweating nervously.

"Positive." Garnet give a weak smile. "We should bring him back to the temple." Garnet strongly suggested picking up Steven carefully.

"I-I'm sorry about the wave. I didn't think it would harm anyone." Lapis frowned looking down at Steven in Garnets arms.

"Lapis its okay. Sometimes we forget he is half human so he is more fragile." Garnet said looking at Lapis.

"I thought it was pretty fun!" Amethyst smiled trying to make Lapis feel less bad about everything.

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 _ **Back at the temple...**_

"We should change him into warm Pajamas" Pearl suggested.

"Good idea." Garnet said gently placing Steven down on his bed.

Steven started to open his eyes. The pain was still there but it wasn't as bad.

"Steven." Garnet looked at him a little worried.

"Garnet!" Steven reached for Garnet's face.

"You're okay Steven. The wave was a little too much for you to handle." Garnet frowned a little bit.

"Here Steven, let me help you change into warm clothes." Pearl said about to take off his shirt.

"Wait." Steven sat up. "Can I do it myself? I want to take a warm bath." Steven came up with an excuse.

"Umm, sure Steven." Pearl was a little confused.

"Steven take your time in there." Garnet smiled.

"I'll go get your bath water ready for you." Pearl walked into the bathroom.

"Thank you." Steven smiled.

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 _ **In the bathroom...**_

"Why can't I tell them? I feel so bad for not telling them." Steven smashed his hand into the water.

The crack in his gem was worse. One more bump or sudden movement could make it crack the whole way through.

"I will try and heal it with my own spit and if that doesn't work this time I will tell them." Steven thought to himself.

He spat onto his hand and then touched his gem. He waited for two minutes and nothing happened. He just ended up with a slimy gem.

"It never works when I really need it to work." Steven sighed. "Their going to be so mad at me that I cracked my mothers gem." Tears formed into his eyes.

Suddenly there was knocking on the door.

"Steven, are you okay in there?" Pearl asked him through the door.

"Yeah everything is fine, why?" Steven lied.

"You've been in there for a while that's all." Pearl answered back.

"I'm coming out now anyway. Just a few more minutes." Steven yelled so Pearl would hear him.

"Okay." Pearl walked away giving him some privacy.

"Okay you can do this." Steven tried calming himself down. "It just hurts so much." Tears poured out of his eyes.

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 _ **Thanks for reading!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**An: I made this chapter a little longer than the others. Sorry for the wait. I hope you enjoy this chapter and there is still more** **to come!**_

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Steven thought about how he was going to tell them. He knew they were going to be quite upset that he had lied to them and crack their old leaders gem. Also he thought they wouldn't trust him on missions anymore or let him do anything on his own. It was like giving up his freedom, but he knew he didn't have a lot more time left until his gem would crack all the way through. Finally he got the courage to tell them.

"Steven, how was your bath?" Garnet gave a little smile until she noticed the look on Steven's face.

"Is everything okay Steven?" Pearl noticed his face as well.

"Dude you don't look so well." Amethyst put down her food which was a rare thing for her to do.

"I-I have something to tell you." Steven felt the tears trying to escape his eyes.

"What is it Steven?" Garnet stood up from the couch along with the others.

"It might be better to just show you." Steven looked up at his family who crowed around him.

"Show us?" Pearl was freaking out on the inside with was quickly transferring to the outside.

"Before I show you, can you promise me something." Steven looked down at the floor.

"Yes." Garnet said in her stoic tone not letting anyone else speak.

"Please promise me you won't be mad." Steven couldn't control his tears for much longer. One fell down his face.

"We promise we won't be mad." Garnet said giving Pearl and Amethyst a look at to which they nodded their heads in return.

"Here goes nothing." Steven lifted his shirt exposing the crack Rose Quartz gem.

"Steven!" Pearl yelled breaking the silence.

"I-I'm sorry." Was all Steven could mange to spit out.

"Rose's fountain." Garnet said causing everyone to look at her.

"His gem is almost cracked all the way through. How are we going to get him there without his gem getting _shattered_!" Pearl cringed at shattered.

"We don't have time to debate this." Garnet carefully picked up Steven who was still crying. "Let's go."

"Are you sure Garnet. I mean this is very risky." Amethyst said causing everyone to be shocked.

"I'm sure." Garnet gave a weak smile knowing all the risks they were taking.

"Okay." Amethyst said as they all warped away to Rose's fountain.

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 _ **Rose's fountain…**_

"Steven don't move at all. I'm going to carry you to her fountain." Garnet strongly stated.

"O-o-o-kay." Steven started losing himself.

"Why does he sound like that." Amethyst asked with a worried look on her face.

"When you're about to… _shatte_ r _,_ you start to lose yourself. Forget who you are." Pearl stated with tears building up.

"He will be okay if we make it to the fountain without his gem cracking anymore." Garnet said in her stoic tone.

"How can you be so okay with this?!" Amethyst was confused.

"I will explain later. We have to hurry." Garnet said walking carefully along the path.

"I can see her fountain!" Pearl danced to her fountain.

"You're so happy at a time like this?" Amethyst kicked the ground.

"I'm not happy. I'm trying to brighten the mood!" Argued Pearl.

"Brightening the mood won't do anything for Steven!" Amethyst was getting mad.

"Not right now you two! Steven needs us. We need to place him into Rose's tears." Garnet looked down at Steven who looked worse than before.

"Ugh." Amethyst groaned.

"I'm going to hold him and gently place him under the tears." Garnet took off her shades.

"G-Garnet." Steven spoke before she put him under.

"Steven save your voice for us later." Garnet interrupted.

"I-I'm sorry I took her away." Steven had tears falling down his face and into his mother's tears.

Everyone was shocked on what he just said. Was it because he was losing himself? They didn't have time to comprehend this so Garnet just put him under slowly and carefully.

"Is anything happening to him?" Amethyst broke the silence.

"He is organic. It could take longer on him." Pearl spoke.

"It's healing!" Amethyst jumped up and down she was so happy.

The crack slowly healed until it was completely healed. The gems were so happy but Steven needed rest. It sucked all his energy out of him. He could barley keep his eyes open.

"Steven, you need to rest now. We are going to bring you back to the temple where you can rest peacefully." Garnet smiled a little and put back on her shades.

"I can't believe it worked! Maybe him feeling so weak and tired is because his organic form can't handle it as well as our form." Pearl was thinking out loud to the others.

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 _ **Back at the Temple…**_

"Goodnight Steven. We love you." Garnet tucked him in and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

"Is he going to be okay?" Amethyst twiddled her thumbs and looked down at the floor.

"Yes. He just needs to rest for a while to gain back his energy." Garnet put her hand on Amethyst's shoulder to comfort her.

"That turned out better than I thought it would." Pearl smiled feeling relived.

"We should all stay in here tonight in case Steven wakes up." Garnet suggested sitting down on the couch.

"Good idea! When he wakes up I will have breakfast ready for him." Pearl stood in the kitchen.

"Garnet?" Amethyst looked over at Garnet.

"Yes Amethyst?" Garnet simply responded.

"Why weren't you worried?" Asked Amethyst.

"Oh Amethyst." Garnet frowned. "I was very worried." Garnet looked down at Sapphires gem.

"You didn't show it." Amethyst said.

"I needed to be a leader. We needed to get Steven to that fountain and me worrying wasn't going to do anything." Garnet took off her shades once again showing tears build up in her eyes.

"I guess it makes sense." Amethyst plopped down on the couch next to Garnet.

"Want to know what I'm most worried about." Garnet wanted to open up a little for once.

"Yes Garnet." Amethyst responded while Pearl sat down next to them.

"He didn't even want to tell us." Garnet wiped a few tears.

"He is grounded when he wakes up." Pearl stated not getting the message.

"Pearl! You think punishing Steven will make him or us feel any better." Amethyst yelled.

"Amethyst. We have to quiet or Steven will hear us." Garnet shushed Amethyst.

"Oh…right." Whispered Amethyst.

"We are not punishing Steven for this. He was scared. Didn't you see the fear in his eyes when he was telling us." Garnet put back on her shades.

"He cracked her gem and didn't even tell us." Pearl stated standing up.

"Pearl please. He was scared that we would be mad at him. It's his gem now." Garnet strongly stated.

"I guess I'm over reacting. I'm just worried." Pearl sat back down realizing how she was acting "You know how much pain it is to have your gem even slightly cracked." Pearl was coming to a realization of how much Steven was hurting.

"He must have been in a lot of pain. We don't know how long his gem was cracked for either." Garnet pained to say those words.

"We are suppose to be protecting him. We failed." Pearl frowned and looked up at Rose Quartz's portrait. "Sorry we failed you Rose Quartz." Pearl cried quietly while they all hugged each other.

"You…you didn't fail her." Steven walked down the stairs surprising everyone. "I failed you." Steven looked at his family. "I should've told you. I should have told you when it happened 2 weeks ago." Steven was still very weak.

"Steven, you should be resting." Garnet immediately got up and carefully picked up Steven and held him close.

"Dude you still look very tired." Amethyst looked at him.

"I want to be with you guys." Steven weakly smiled.

"I'm going to lay you down on your bed and we will sleep with you." Garnet stated not asking the others.

"Are you sure?" Steven looked around while still in Garnets arms.

"Positive." They all said together.

Garnet put Steven down on his bed and tucked him in again. She laid right beside him with his head resting on her. Amethyst laid at the end of the bed while Pearl sat straight up on his bed not laying down.

"We will talk about this in the morning. We could all use some sleep." Garnet smiled while ruffing Steven's curly hair.

"Okay." Steven simply said cuddling more into Garnet.

Soon almost everyone fell asleep. Amethyst was snoring away and even Pearl managed to fall asleep even though she refused to but soon realized it was for Steven. Garnet remained awake with Steven still in her arms. She couldn't stop thinking of what Steven said. Steven noticed this.

"Garnet." Whispered Steven.

"Yes?" Garnet looked down at him still playing with his hair.

"Is everything okay?" Steven questioned.

"Yes." Garnet smiled a little.

"Be honest with me. What are you thinking about?" Steven wasn't buying her answer.

"Okay you got me. I am thinking." Garnet tensed up a little.

"You can tell me." Steven looked up at her.

"Was it really two weeks?" Garnet asked not really hoping for a yes.

"Yes." Steven was ashamed.

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 _ **Thanks for reading!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**An: Sorry I haven't uploaded this story in a while. I wrote a bigger chapter to try to make up for it. Please leave reviews. I love to read them and know how you feel about this story.**_

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Steven woke up in the morning to the gems sound asleep, even Garnet. Garnet had him embraced in her arms. Amethyst was snuggled up to Pearl who was still sleeping against the wall. Steven carefully lifted Garnet's arm so he could get up. He was still healing.

"Ow." Steven said quietly rubbing his head. He went outside onto the deck so he wouldn't wake up the gems. He knew they didn't need sleep, but it was nice to see them take a break. "Why does my head hurt so much?" Steven questioned to himself. "I thought my stomach would hurt more." He lifted his pajama shirt up showing his gem. His gem looked fine like nothing happened to it.

"Is everything okay Steven?" Garnet said holding the door open.

"Ahhh!" Steven screamed.

"Steven it's okay, it's me." Garnet gently touched his shoulder for reassurance.

"Oh I-I'm sorry Garnet. I didn't realize you were there." Steven put his hand over his heart. His heart skipped a beat.

"Can I see your gem?" Garnet asked making sure it was healing properly.

"Yeah sure." Steven lifted his shirt up once again.

Garnet knelt down taking a closer look at the Rose Quartz gem. "Everything looks great. You should be better in no time." Garnet smiled pulling down his shirt.

"Hey umm…Garnet?" Steven twiddled his thumbs getting nervous.

"Yes?" Garnet questioned still knelt down at Steven's height.

"I-I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Steven looked into Garnet's left and right eyes.

"Steven, you don't have to apologize. I should be apologizing." Garnet cupped his cute chubby face and took off her shades. "I'm so sorry that you have been going through all of this pain alone. I'm so sorry that you were scared to tell me because you thought I'd get mad at you." Garnet had tears building up, but she fought them off the best she could with only a few escaping.

"Garnet don't you dare put the blame on yourself!" Steven yelled getting mad at himself for making Garnet feel like this. "You have been there for me when no one else was. You believe in me and let me do things my way. When everyone was losing hope on my powers you kept pushing me. You risk your life every single day to protect me." Steven at this point was bawling his eyes out.

"S-Steven I-"Garnet was cut off by Steven.

"I don't deserve you as a leader or a mother. Yes, I just called you a mother because that's what you are to me. You're like a mother to everyone Garnet. Amethyst looks up to you and Pearl looks up to you. I know you don't show your emotions often and you have to be the stronger and better gem. That's a reason I didn't tell you. I didn't want you to blame yourself for my mistakes. It isn't right. Therefore, I'm sorry." Steven was soon forced into a very tight hug from Garnet who was now crying out of all three eyes.

"Oh Steven." Garnet was speechless.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you." Steven hugged back tighter.

"Steven, you can tell me anything. I am here for you." Garnet caressed his cheek.

"Thank you." They both wiped up their tears and Garnet put back on her shades and they headed inside.

Amethyst and Pearl were still sound asleep which was amazing after all the yelling from outside. Steven felt a little better talking to Garnet, but he was still in pain emotionally.

"Are you hungry Steven?" Garnet whispered noticing the Sleeping Amethyst and Pearl.

"Yeah, how did you know." He giggled silently and his stomach rumbled.

"I'll never tell." She adjusted her shades and winked. "What would you like to eat Steven?" Garnet questioned.

"Waffles?" Steven tried his hardest to not wake Pearl and Amethyst up.

"Sure, I'll put them in the toaster. You can go sit over there." Garnet smiled getting the frozen waffles out of the freezer and putting them into the toaster.

"Thank you Garnet." Steven smiled back at her. She really was like a mother to him.

"No problem." Garnet took the waffles out of the toaster when they were done and put them on a plate. "Would you like some whip cream and maple syrup on them?" Garnet asked looking at Steven for an answer.

"Yes please." Steven smiled big.

Garnet poured syrup into each waffle hole. She knew it was the way Steven liked it. Then she made a cute happy face with the whip cream. She set the plate down in front of Steven. "Here you go Steven."

"Wow Garnet! It looks great! Thank you so much." Steven smiled and immediately started eating his waffles.

"You're welcome Steven." Garnet smiled.

"What's that smell?!" Amethyst came running down to the kitchen waking up Pearl.

"Garnet made me waffles." Steven was use to Amethyst's love for food.

Amethyst grabbed Steven's plate of half eaten waffles. "Yummy!" Amethyst said as she was about to dump the food off the plate into her mouth. She was stopped by Garnet.

"Amethyst those are Steven's waffles. He is very hungry and he is still healing. He needs to eat." Garnet said nicely grabbing the plate of food and putting it down in front of Steven again.

"I'm sorry Steven. I forgot that you are still healing." Amethyst felt guilty.

"It's okay Amethyst. Here you can have a bite." Steven ripped off a piece of his waffle.

"Thank you, little man." Amethyst smiled feeling a little better.

"How long were we sleeping for?" Pearl came downstairs.

"You slept all night!" Steven yelled happily.

"Really?" Pearl was in shock. She never slept that long ever. She thought sleep was just a big waste of time.

"Yup." Garnet gave her a thumbs up.

"Do we have any missions?" Pearl questioned petting Steven's head.

Garnet looked into the future. "Yes, in fact we do have a mission." Garnet weakly smiled not wanting to leave Steven alone in The Temple.

"We better get going then. Amethyst let's go!" Pearl pushed Amethyst to the warp pad.

"Coming G?" Amethyst looked at Garnet who was watching Steven.

"I think I will stay here with Steven." Garnet replied. She didn't want to risk Steven getting hurt again.

"What if we need you." Pearl stated.

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Garnet reassured.

"Garnet." Steven said quietly, but everyone heard him.

"Yes Steven?" Garnet replied.

"You should go." Steven smiled finishing up his waffles she had made him.

"You shouldn't be alone while healing." Garnet softly smiled.

"They need you Garnet. What if they get hurt?" Steven hugged Garnet tightly.

"Are you sure Steven?" Garnet asked ruffling his hair.

"Positive." He smiled.

With that Garnet joined her team on the warp pad. She was worried something would happen to him, but she also knew this could turn into a more dangerous mission. Her team needed her.

"Make sure you get lots of rest and stay inside." Garnet said to Steven as they warped off.

"I will." He said to himself.

Steven was getting better physically. His emotions, not so much. He knew he hurt the gems by not telling them. He knew they would blame themselves. He knew they would be upset and on his back all the time. He was still in pain emotionally.

"What can I do inside?" He questioned to himself. His gem started glowing and it opened his mom's room in The Temple. "I guess there is always her room." Steven weakly smiled and walked into her room. The door disappeared behind him.

"I wonder what you would think of me now? Are you disappointed? Are you happy? Are you upset with me?" Steven looked around at clouds. "I know in the tape you told me to take care of the gems, but I failed at that." He frowned.

Once he said the gems, the room created cloud versions of them. They looked so realistic as if they were right in front of him.

"What do you guys think of me?" Steven would soon regret asking that question. The room was based on his emotions. He wasn't in a good emotional state. He shouldn't have even been in that room with the state he was in.

"You took the only gem I have ever loved away from me!" Fake Pearl yelled at Steven frightening him.

"You took away someone who cared for me and gave me a chance!" Fake Amethyst yelled at Steven.

"You took away our leader!" Fake Garnet yelled at Steven as well.

The room was turning darker and darker as they went on.

"I didn't mean to!" Steven responded tearing up. He knew it wasn't the real gems, but at the same time it felt so real.

"She was all we ever had. Now we're stuck with you. You're so weak." The fake gems yelled at the same time.

Steven couldn't handle it anymore. He dropped to his knees and broke down. He cried and cried with the fake gems giving him a disappoint look. He felt like he was losing himself once again. Steven lifted his shirt up to see where the pain was coming from. Around the Rose Quartz gem was green spikes. He was becoming corrupt.

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 _ **Thanks for reading!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**An: Can you believe it? I actually uploaded this at a decent time compared to the last update. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please leave reviews. I really enjoy reading them and they give me more motivation to write. Thank you so much!**_

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Steven was still on the floor of his mother's room. The clouds weren't pink like they use to be. They were a grey color. It was reflecting off of Steven's emotions, that is what his powers do after all. He was on his knees on the floor staring at his gem.

"Corruption." He whispered to himself. "I'm becoming corrupt." Tears rolled down his face. "I knew this would happen." He finally put down his shirt covering the corruption. He strangely wasn't too bothered over it. He knew that if he was going to be in the state of mind that he was in, it was bound to happen. He was just like Jasper in a sense.

"Great." Steven sighed getting up. "How am I going to explain this to the gems?" He questioned himself trying to get the courage to get out of the stormy room. "They're going to be so upset with me." He walked out of Rose's room in the Temple.

"Steven!" Pearl jumped out of her chair looking at the youngest member of the Crystal Gems.

"Yes, Pearl?" Steven said in a strange voice.

"We were worried about you and why do you sound like that?" Pearl freaked.

"I wasn't in there that long." Steven was getting annoyed. He wasn't himself.

"Steven, we have been back from our mission for a few hours now." Pearl was also getting annoyed.

"Where is Garnet and Amethyst?" Steven questioned trying to ease the tension.

"They have been out looking for you. I stayed here in case you were to come back." Pearl answered.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know I was gone for that long." Steven apologized. His emotions were all over the place. Once minute he was himself the next he wasn't. Corruption was strange that way.

"The rooms in the Temple create an affect that time goes by much slower than being out here." Pearl explained to the best to her ability.

"Oh." Steven responded.

"You still never told me why your voice sounds different." Pearl wasn't going to let this one slide.

"Steven!" Garnet and Amethyst yelled running in Steven's part of the house.

"Hey." He simply responded.

"Where were you?" Garnet questioned slightly mad because he worried her so much.

"He was in Rose's room." Pearl answered for him.

"Dude, why were you in there?!" Amethyst was slightly shocked. Steven rarely went in there.

"Personal reasons." Steven responded which worried them more.

"Steven I need to check your gem to see if it's healing correctly. You seemed to have been moving a lot." Garnet got closer to Steven.

"You're not going to like what you see." Steven looked at Garnet who was standing right in front of him.

"What?" Garnet took off her shades trying to pay close attention to what he just said.

"I said, you're not going to like what you see." Steven was losing himself slowly.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Amethyst butted in who was soon shushed by Pearl.

Garnet slowly lifted up Steven's shirt to see what he was talking about. She exposed his gem with the green spikes around it. She stood there silently with fear in her eyes.

"Corruption." Pearl whispered covering her mouth with tears building up in her eyes.

"Haha, very funny Steven." Amethyst laughed thinking it was another one of his jokes. No one moved. "Steven the jokes over, it's not funny anymore." Amethyst's voice cracked coming to a realization that he wasn't pranking them.

Everyone stood there silent. It was so silent that you could hear the Funland music.

"Garnet?." Amethyst looked at Garnet who was still holding up Steven's shirt. Her whole body was shaking.

"I-I can't." Garnet started glowing. She was unstable.

"Garnet, we need you to help us through this! Don't split up!" Amethyst ran over, but her words didn't change anything.

"Steven." Pearl repeated still in shock.

"What are we going to do!" Ruby stomped on the floor panicking.

"Ruby you aren't helping by being angry. We all just need to be clam-" Sapphire was cut off by Ruby.

"How can you say that at a time like this?! How are you so calm?!" Ruby grabbed her own hair in anger.

"Ruby, please." Sapphire floated up from her sitting position and put her hand in Ruby's shoulder.

"I-I'm sorry Sapphire. I can't watch him suffer like this." Ruby has tears steaming down her face.

"Oh Ruby." Sapphire hugged Ruby and they started kissing.

"Ahem." Amethyst coughed trying to get them back to reality.

"Sorry." They blushed with embarrassment.

"What are we going to do?" Amethyst questioned.

"We don't know how to heal corruption. Rose couldn't even heal corruption." Pearl finally spoke and looked at Steven who looked worse then before.

"You're right." Sapphire sighed and looked at Steven. They were around the same height now.

"Guys." Steven spoke up.

"Yes Steven?" They all responded.

"I knew I was going to get corrupted." Steven frowned.

"How did you know?" Pearl was confused.

"I just felt it." He simply responded.

"You can't just know you're going to become corrupt." Pearl answered.

"What were you doing before you got corrupted Steven?" Sapphire held onto Ruby's hand.

"I-I went into Rose's room." Steven answered knowing they wanted to know more.

"What happened in there?" Sapphire questioned holding onto Ruby's hand even tighter then before.

"Well I asked the room what Rose thought of me and what you guys thought of me. It made fake versions of you that felt so real." Steven started confessing. "You guys all said very negative, horrible things that seemed so real. I broke. I broke down to the point where I lost all strength. I felt a sharp pain and lifted up my shirt and saw I was becoming corrupted." Steven looked at his family. They all had tears in their eyes.

"Steven it wasn't us." Pearl said quickly.

"I know. It felt so real though." Steven looked at Ruby and Sapphire.

"Is something wrong?" Sapphire asked in her calm tone.

"Well I am being corrupted and are you and Ruby going to fuse again?" Steven was closer to Garnet and felt more secure with her around.

"We might not be stable enough right now to fuse." Sapphire looked at Ruby worried.

"Don't worry Sapphire. We will fuse again sometime, I'm sure." Ruby was never un fused from Sapphire in a while.

"I hope you're right." Sapphire calmly spoke.

"I hate to break up this moment, but Steven is getting those spikes on his arms like Jasper. It's spreading." Amethyst pointed out.

"It hurts." Steven was losing himself more and more as time passed.

"We need to try and help him." Ruby let go of Sapphire's hand and walked closer to Steven.

"Be careful Ruby." Sapphire already saw this as a possible outcome.

Ruby reached her hand out to touch Steven's arm which was now covered with green spikes.

"Don't!" Steven yelled slapping Ruby's hand away.

"Steven, I might be able to burn it off of you." Ruby rubbed her arm where Steven slapped it away.

"You can't touch it. You might become corrupted. It could spread." Steven explained.

"He might be right. We don't know what corruption can do. It's very unknown." Pearl added in.

"Sapphire we need to fuse. Garnet would know what to do." Ruby walked closer to Sapphire.

"We can try." Sapphire said.

Ruby and Sapphire held each other's hand and kissed each other on the cheek. They started to glow, but it didn't last long. They couldn't fuse.

"W-why isn't this working?!" Ruby almost lost it again.

"I think we are both unstable still." Sapphire stated.

"You guys are always stable!" Amethyst added in.

"Maybe we need a break or.." Sapphire didn't get to finish her sentence.

"Or what?! We can never fuse. Garnet will never exist?!" Ruby couldn't handle it.

"What I was saying was we might not be able to fuse until Steven's better and cured of corruption." Sapphire sighed pulling her bangs away form her eye.

"I can't be away from you for a long time. I feel stable." Ruby brought her finger up to her head.

"It's Sapphire." Pearl blurted out causing everyone to look at her.

"What do you mean?" Ruby questioned.

"Sapphire is unstable." Pearl answered.

"Sapphire?" Ruby looked into her eye.

"I-I should have saw this coming. This is my fault Ruby. I had seen this as an outcome, but it was highly unlikely." Sapphire had tears coming from her one eye.

"This isn't your fault!" Steven yelled, but this time the corruption was up to his shoulder.

"This could have been prevented." Sapphire started to freeze.

Steven couldn't be here. He couldn't watch his family blame themselves for him bottling up his feelings. That caused the corruption. He had no choice, but to run. He couldn't stay there and let them have a chance of becoming corrupted. Corruption on a half human and half gem wasn't known. Corruption in itself wasn't known well.

* * *

 _ **Thanks For Reading!**_


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